Press

For months, the fate of the Partnership for Change — a multimillion-dollar initiative to spur innovation at the Burlington and Winooski school districts —was up in the air. Concerned by tumult and leadership turnover in the Burlington district, the Nellie Mae Foundation hadn’t decided whether it would continue to fund the project.

This week, the Partnership for Change announced that Nellie Mae is giving them another year of funding amounting to nearly $690,000.

Molly Heath was tapped as a finalist for the Lawrence W. O’Toole Award through the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. The award is given annually to a school or teacher, “exhibiting great leadership through innovation or courage in moving student-centered approaches to learning forward in New England,” the foundation’s website states.

As Vermont’s finalist, Heath is competing against educators from the other five New England states. The winner will receive $100,000 for their school.

WINOOSKI, Vt.- The Spartans in the Winooski School District tell us why they go to a very cool school! They told us about Peace Jam, the Spartans in Motion and Mindfulness program and even started their morning with a pep rally. For more information about Winooski Schools you can

Students need an adviser who sticks with them all four years at Burlington High School. That’s the gist of a push by students and parents to create a new advising system at the city’s sole public high school.

The Winooski, Vt. Educational Center is offering students a new opportunity for learning. Starting in the fall, students began participating in the “iLab,” which is all about student-centered learning.

The entire freshmen class at Burlington High School left campus Wednesday to talk about race, labels and fairness. The “Getting Real About Race Event” brought roughly 270 students to Fletcher Free Library on College Street and Burlington City Hall on Church Street for workshops and conversations with community members and BHS alumni.

Ena Ibrisimaic is only a tenth-grader, but she’s at school on a Saturday to help shape her and her fellow students’ educational experience. The goal is better results after they graduate. “I would like to have schools have students go out into the real world and experience what it is like to do a certain subject that they are interested in,” Ibrisimaic said.

A major transformation is in the works in Burlington and Winooski schools. “The point of the partnership is to remodel our high school in Winooski and Burlington. And to do that we need to see what’s out there… what’s working,” said Hal Colston, the director of Partnership for Change.

High school can be a time of great challenge, transition and triumph for teenagers. Social groups are formed and disbanded, students are challenged in new ways by their teachers and by their peers, and there is a great deal of pressure to think about the future.

Close your eyes. Imagine for a moment that the year is 2030. Burlington and Winooski are thriving cities. The community is vibrant, with strong leadership and an understanding that everyone’s voice counts and that everyone’s contribution matters. Businesses are prospering with skilled employees born and raised in Vermont.

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of building a business on a solution they are passionate about, yet that merely scratches the surface of a far deeper opportunity, or worse, misses altogether what customers desire most.

Host Mayor Miro Weinberger speaks with Benjamin Roesch, BHS English Teacher and Youth Engagement and Leadership Fellow of the Partnership for Change, Emma Galvin, BHS Senior Class Student Government Representative and Co-Chair of the Youth Engagement and Leadership Implementation Team of the Partnership for Change, and Tobias Muellers, BHS Junior Class Student Government Representative on the Mayor’s experience at BHS and the Partnership for Change initiative.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger went back to high school today; he’s making good on a campaign promise to move his office to Burlington High School for a week. This Monday through Friday, the mayor and his three-person staff will be conducting city business out of a fishbowl office belonging to BHS assistant principal Nick Molander.

In the busy halls of the high school in Burlington, V.T., a new student is toting around a book bag this week: the city’s mayor, Miro Weinberger. “It’s been fun,” the democrat told New England Cable News. “The week is off to a good start.”

Vermont’s political leaders visited Burlington High School Monday to highlight a new initiative between Burlington and Winooski. The state’s two most diverse school districts are working together to remodel and rethink their education systems, and they’re getting a little help from civic leaders.

Mayor Miro Weinberger today kicked off his Week in School with an assembly in the Burlington High School (BHS) auditorium, where he was joined by Governor Peter Shumlin, Speaker of the House Shap Smith, other state and local elected officials and educators, as well as hundreds of BHS students.

Mayor Miro Weinberger announces the Mayor’s Week in School schedule for the week of March 18 to 22, during which the Mayor moves the Mayor’s Office to Burlington High School (BHS). He will also highlight the work of the Partnership for Change.

Creating a great 21st century education system is hard. It’s even harder, when you’re Burlington and Winooski and you have over 50 languages being spoken in the high schools. Commentator Rich Nadworny is seeing first hand how one group is tackling the problems.

Creating a great 21st century education system is hard. It’s even harder, when you’re Burlington and Winooski and you have over 50 languages being spoken in the high schools. Commentator Rich Nadworny is seeing first hand how one group is tackling the problems.

On a frigid winter night, a group of parents gathered to ponder a question: What do high school students need to succeed? There was no single answer. No pat response. But parents dug into the question, and a plate of chewy chocolate chip cookies, at a home on North Street in Burlington last week while the wind whipped outside.

Speaking up for your child’s education is difficult if you don’t speak the language well, or at all. But Monday night, a group of new Americans stood up, and received commitments for change from educators.

Parents for Change empowers families to improve educational opportunities. We are part of the Winooski-Burlington Partnership for Change working to reshape schools and strengthening communities by preparing all students for the future.

When the Nellie Mae Education Foundation awarded $16.4 million in grants to four New England school districts earlier this year, the philanthropy required a community partnership component for each district.

Esther Nibitanga smiled Wednesday as she realized she would no longer need to share the computers at home with her four siblings. The 16-year-old sophomore at Winooski High School will instead have use of her own sleek, silver, password-protected MacBook Pro laptop.

This isn’t the Apple store — it’s a Burlington High school social studies class where iPads line the desks. “I love the fact that basically at any time in the classroom you can go on the Internet and find what we need,” says Phineas Totten.

To help build a strong and dynamic future for Winooski and Burlington, the two school districts are joining hands in “remodeling” aspects of the educational system—to better prepare all students for a rapidly-changing, global society.